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22 September 2009

Trading .... a neighbourly thing to do ...

When you're too busy to deal with all the lovely fresh veg that's waiting to be harvested at this time of year, you can always do a 'neighbourly good turn' and give it away....

Towards the end of spring our friendly farmer next door was clearing out his cattle sheds and we asked him if he wouldn't mind dumping a loader full of manure over the hedge into the corner of our field. The contractor driving the tractor looked at us as if we were slightly mad, but we showed him roughly where to leave it and went on with our daily chores.

Come evening time we checked out our lovely fresh, manure and low and behold, a mountain of it had appeared! We covered it with an old, holey, paddling pool to stop the nutrients washing away and it's now rotting down ready to be used next year.

Yesterday I was finally able to re-pay the debt as a shortage of time has left me unable to pickle and freeze our ripening crops and I was therefore delighted to be able to provide him with a bag full of onions, garlic, runner beans, tomatoes and parsley. The way the weeks are now turning should mean we'll be able to offer veg on a more regular basis to supplement his weekly shop, benefiting us all.

So even if you do sow too much to handle, don't throw it away, give it away and cheer everyone up!